Monday, July 11, 2016

Canon EOS Elan II - Not That Old, But Still Cool



At my professional finance day job, most of the people that work for me know that I'm super into all forms of photography.  They think it's cute, but I just smile and tell them "now get back to work!!" Yep, that's how I roll.

A couple of weeks ago one of my staff came into my office and my heart skipped a beat...he was carrying a camera.  I quickly gave him my 100% attention.  Well, he had a Canon EOS Elan II that he thought he got in college or high school, he couldn't remember but he wanted to know if I wanted it. He had zero use for it anymore, and couldn't remember the last time he had used it.  Being the contemporary boss that thinks only of his staff, I felt obligated to help a guy out and take it off his hands.

Excluding my digital kit and a few film point & shoots, the Elan is one of my newer film cameras. Also, I only have 1 other Canon SLR, a TX.  It's a good addition.  When he gave it to me he included 2 Vivitar lenses, a 70-210mm f/4.5-5.6 & a Vivitar 28-80mm f/3.5-5.6 macro.  Hey, they were free.

I gave the camera a good going over, put in a new battery and it was super clean and ready to go.  It's less than 15 years old and has been stored properly, so I had no concerns of the quality.  The only issue was the lens.  I wanted a fast prime, so I ran down to Roberts Camera.  Groovy, I picked up a 40mm pancake f/2.8 for less than $75 and I was ready to go.  Oh yes, while I was at Roberts I bought 2 packs of B&W T-Max


I've shot it several times since.  First was a fashion shoot in studio.   I played with it while shooting for a fashion magazine (in digital).  Photos to come.  Next I took it to Chicago and did some street photography with some C-41 B&W film


So far it's worked great, but I expected that.  I won't bore you with the specs because there are lots of resources online.  Just let you know it's crisp and automatic.  It will be one of my go too film cameras when I don't want to play around experimenting.

A few shots from Chicago
The Chicago Bean

The L

Central Camera is the Bomb

Single Bike

The Streets





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